Q&A with Zuzana Pavlovská, head of the education department at the Jewish Museum Prague

The Jewish Museum Prague was founded in 1906. Today it maintains seven historical sites across the city in partnership with Prague’s Jewish community. Its sites include: the Old-New Synagogue, the oldest-functioning synagogue in Europe, dated 1270; and the Old Jewish Cemetery, which has the earliest tombstone, dating back to 1439. I stopped by recently to meet with education department head Zuzana Pavlovská. Here are some excerpts from our conversation:

What challenges do you face?

Zuzana Pavlovská (ZP): The biggest challenge is to tell the people of this country that Jewish history is part of their history. We are in the top-10 list of all the guidebooks; so many tourists are coming to this place. But Czech people aren’t thinking that this is part of them.

What are your educational goals for the museum?

ZP: That [visitors] will find the collection really interesting, and in that process learn something, and that then they will want to continue learning about it.